NYSEG and RG&E Graduate First Virtual Class of New Call Center Support

Companies continue to take steps to improve customer service

New customer care representatives, starting Monday, will reduce call wait times when customers need help with their bills


BINGHAMTON, NY — February 20, 2023 — New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) have graduated their first class of customer care representatives to include virtual workers, the next step in the Companies’ plan to reduce call center wait times when customers contact them for help with billing and other issues. These new call center employees will begin receiving customers’ calls today.

“I met with our first graduating class of 33 virtual call center representatives last week as they prepared to take their first calls,” said Trish Nilsen, president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E. “These new employees understand that customer service is a top priority for our Companies, and that they represent our commitment to serve with every conversation they have with our customers.”

As announced in January, the Companies have expanded the customer care representative role to make it more flexible, including work from home options for some employees. This was the first class to graduate from virtual training, another new feature of the staffing effort. NYSEG and RG&E will continue to hire for these roles throughout this year.

This is the most recent step in the Companies’ customer service improvement journey, which also includes increased staffing in their Billing Department. The Companies have seen a more than 60 percent decrease in estimated bills since last year as they worked to resume reading indoor meters, which was paused to protect customers during the pandemic. The backlog of manual bill reviews, another consequence of the pandemic, has dropped more than 40 percent since last year. The Companies continue to manually process more than 44,000 community distributed generation bills per month, and with doubled staffing to handle these, are now delivering 90 percent of bills within 60 days. 

For new construction and service upgrades, the time to job completion has shortened to four to five weeks on average as compared to four to five months, as a result of the Companies’ collaborative efforts with residential and commercial builders.

The installation of Smart Meters has begun across NYSEG and RG&E service areas, an initiative that will reduce billing issues by enabling monthly billing based on actual usage. These new tools will also help customers make more informed decisions about their energy usage by providing up to the minute energy use data. Knowing when and where you’re using energy in your home or business gives you the power to make real-time decisions to determine if there are ways to save, and energy options to explore.

In addition to these service improvements, the Companies have announced an array of benefits to assist customers who may be affected by increased winter supply prices from energy suppliers. NYSEG and RG&E do not own generation, with the exception of small hydro facilities, and purchase energy on the open market, which has experienced rising prices due to increased fuel prices, supply constraints, and global events. The Companies don’t realize any financial benefit from supply charges, as they are passthrough costs that represent the actual cost of purchasing the energy to deliver to customers. Late payment charge suspension, bill credits for those who may have gotten behind, and other assistance is available for qualifying residential and small business customers. Information on these programs is available on NYSEG.com and RGE.com. 

RG&E and NYSEG encourage people interested in starting a career to view opportunities available now. If you’d like to join a leading sustainable energy company where we value creativity and hard work, we encourage you to apply today.
 

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